In the Media
Female Factor #5: Supporting Big Government Isn't Supporting Equal Pay
The Female Factor
A timely series of news bytes from the Independent Women's Forum
In an attempt to attract women voters, Senator Barrack Obama has released a campaign advertisement highlighting the so-called "equal pay" issue. In addition to repeating false statistics about differences in women's and men's earnings for the same work (for more on these misleading statistics, see the article"Yesterday's Women for Obama," on IWF's website), this advertisement wrongly equates supporting legislation to change statutes of limitation for lawsuits with support for the basic concept of equal pay.
"It is already the law of the land that men and women must be paid the same when they perform the same work. Everyone supports this basic concept of fairness," said IWF vice president for policy and economics Carrie Lukas. "In this advertisement, Senator Obama attempts to tar those who oppose changing the statue of limitations for filing discrimination lawsuits as being somehow 'against' equal pay for women. That is a ridiculous leap. Surely people can honestly disagree about the appropriate balance between protecting the rights of the accused and the accuser without degenerating into this kind of character assassination."
In addition, Senator Obama supports expanding government's ability to micromanage how compensation packages are arranged in private companies. "This is a bad idea," added IWF's Allison Kasic. "It will reduce workplace flexibility-recognizing that simple fact doesn't mean that I don't believe in equal pay, it just means I don't believe in big brother government."
To interview IWF scholars, or to receive an e-mail version of "The Female Factor," contact femalefactor@iwf.org or call Media Services at the Independent Women's Forum at (202) 349-5882.
5 Comments
Bk | September 25, 2008, 2:07pm | #
Senator Obama should spend more time at his Senate office looking after the salaries of his female employees before wasting time trying to attract votes for a cause is doesn't support with his own actions. It's the usual do as I say, not as I do.
Show me the money? | September 26, 2008, 1:40am | #
I would really like to see the numbers on McCain vs Obama's female salarys, and I would like a site other than this to do the research...cause I am sorry but if you guys are independent...you certainly are doing a horrible job of showing it.
Tanya | September 26, 2008, 2:41am | #
Yes we are not getting right payment even our oppurtunities are not lesser then men!!.. and who says we cant work hard??..
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Tanya
Dating
Trish | September 27, 2008, 11:10pm | #
Tanya and Showme--
I don't want to belabor the point, but it's entirely possible that you'd be making more money if you learned how to spell and how to write a coherent sentence.
Deanna | October 3, 2008, 5:31pm | #
I'm a young female attorney, and I make plenty of money. However, I am aware in my field women make around 70 cents on the dollar of men. I went to one of the top law schools in the country, and they taught us there that this was not fair. I also learned that the law forbids this inequity. When I started working, however, like many others, I realized that despite these facts, the inequity still exists.
The problem is not so much that people do not, in theory, support the precept that women deserve equal pay. The problem is that there is no way to enforce this. If corporations had a systematic way of giving less compensation to another class of persons, say redheads, and as is the case with women, this group had traditionally earned less and customarily accepted that they would receive less, the corporations would take advantage of this and the redheads would be paid less. If the redheads seemed content with their lesser pay, the corporations would keep giving them less. My point is, there is no benevolent entity checking on your employer and making sure you are being treated fairly. Plenty of people aren't being paid what they are worth - especially women. We have laws in place to prevent this inequity, but they are not enforced and arguably are not fully enforceable. It is our responsibility to ask for adequate compensation. Studies show that women are less likely to negotiate their starting salaries and ask for fewer raises than men. I would wager this leads to lower pay. For your own sake, as well as that of other women, you should try to stay educated on the appropriate compensation for your job and request deserved raises and bonuses. It's not being greedy. It's not being "un-ladylike" or aggressive or obnoxious. It's being responsible.